I SEE that the land claimants for the La Rochelle hockey fields allege that the school wanted to get rid of the field by selling it in 1995.
This is not the full story. The school hoped to sell the land, and use the proceeds to buy houses in Du Toit Street adjoining the schoolgrounds.
Should the house owners have been willing to sell, the school would have been able to develop a hockey field on the schoolgrounds directly behind the school, which currently only has space for tennis and netball courts. The grounds are too small for athletics or hockey.
However, when it became clear that there were land claims against the site in Breda Street, the plans were shelved.
It is also not true that residents of Ou Tuin were removed for development of the hockey field.
The previous government demolished houses in the area in the early sixties as part of forced removals.
It was only about 15 years later when the Department of Public Works decided to offer the empty land to the Department of Education for sportsfields.
Another decade later the rest of the land was still unutilised and was then sold to Boland Bank (now Nedbank) who required additional offices.
The school is not opposed to releasing the land, but is not happy with the safety situation for their girls if they have to play at a field far from the school.
Many of the girls are boarders and the school is responsible for their safety and security 24 hours of the day.
Parent
